With the passing of Fritz Sterz on 5 August 2024, the entire field of emergency medicine but in particular those specialising in the area of Cardiac Arrest has lost an enormously influential individual who left his mark on many people.
Fritz Sterz grew up in Graz and Klagenfurt, Austria, completed his medical studies in Graz and finally qualified as a specialist in internal medicine at Graz University Hospital in 1987. His passion was always for emergency medicine, starting with the management of the medical corps of the Red Cross in Graz.
A particularly formative period for his further career was his stay as a research fellow with Peter Safar, in Pittsburgh, USA, from 1987 to 1990. Prof. Peter Safar (1924-2003), an Austrian from Vienna with Czech roots, the father of modern resuscitation research, founded the International Resuscitation Research Center (IRRC), now called the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh.
Fritz Sterz moved to today's Department of Emergency Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna/University Hospital Vienna in 1991. He completed his “habilitation” in internal medicine in 1992 and was appointed Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine in 1996.
Examples of Fritz’s work and influence within resuscitation are widespread, including: the instigation and leadership of the annual meetings of OHCA survivors in Vienna, the introduction of one of the first European CA registries in Europe, the Vienna Cardiac Arrest registry (VICAR) and leading the first international study on cooling of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) patients, the HACA Trial. He was extraordinarily liked by his students and assistants.
After his official retirement in 2021 he became the medical consultant of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which opened a completely new field of research for himself - performing arts medicine.
Together with his family, his colleagues, students, patients and friends, the ERC and the Cardiac Arrest and CPR Research Community grieve for a great personality.
Fritz Sterz leaves two adult daughters.